Surprise Confession by Surviving Mumbai Gunman

The lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks made a surprise confession at his trial Monday, saying he was recruited by a militant group inside Pakistan after he left a low-paying job and went looking for training to become a professional robber.

The confession by Ajmal Kasab bolstered India's charges thatterrorist groups in neighboring Pakistan were behind thewell-planned attack, and that it is not doing enough to clamp downon them. The attack in which 166 people died severely strainedrelations and put the brakes on a peace process between thenuclear-armed enemies.

As part of the confession, Kasab described how he sprayedautomatic gunfire at commuters while a comrade hurled grenadesinside a railway station during one of India's worst terroristacts.

"I was in front of Abu Ismail who had taken such a positionthat no one could see him," Kasab told the court. "We both fired,Abu Ismail and I. We fired on the public," he said, speaking inHindi.

Kasab, a Pakistani who had consistently denied a role in theNovember rampage, reversed himself without warning, shocking evenhis lawyer.

In a calmly delivered statement, Kasab described how theattackers were sent from Karachi, Pakistan, by four men - some ofthem known leaders with the Pakistan-based Islamic extremist groupLashkar-e-Taiba.

They traveled by boat arriving Nov. 26 in Mumbai, where theyunleashed three days of mayhem. The 10 gunmen, armed with automaticrifles and grenades, split into pairs and killed people at arailway station, a Jewish center, a hospital and two five-starhotels, including the Taj Mahal.

Seema Desai, an analyst at the Eurasia Group in London, saidKasab's assertions could "increase tensions between India andPakistan."

"Most likely Pakistan will not give his statements muchcredence and will question the circumstances under which he changedhis story," she said in an e-mail.

Kasab faces the death penalty if convicted on the charges ofmurder and waging war against the country.

As the 66th day of Kasab's trial started Monday morning, hestood up just as a prosecution witness was to take the stand, andaddressed the judge.

"Sir, I plead guilty to my crime," said Kasab, 21, triggeringa collective gasp in the courtroom.

After a debate on the legality of such a confession, Kasab'sstatement was recorded, and the judge said he would have Kasab signeach page of the document, which would be reviewed by his lawyer,formally reversing his plea from innocent to guilty.

Kasab said he and Abu Ismail went to the Chatrapati Shivajirailway station in a taxi and left a bomb in the vehicle.

"I went to the restroom and attached a battery to a bomb andput it in a bag. Abu followed me to restroom and I asked him what Ishould do with the bomb."

"'Let's see,' Abu told me," he said.

They moved to the railroad station hall, packed with commuters.Abu Ismail put the bag near a pillar and stood close to a wallwhere they began shooting at people. Soon, policemen joined thefight. The bomb never exploded.

"I was firing and Abu was hurling hand grenades ... I fired ata policeman after which there was no firing from the police side,"Kasab said.

From the railway station, where they killed more than 50, thetwo went to Cama hospital. A few more were killed there. The pairthen went to the Chowpatty beach in a hijacked vehicle where Ismailwas killed and Kasab was captured after a shootout with the police.

Kasab was treated for wounds and has since been held in solitaryconfinement in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail where the trial is beingconducted.

Kasab said his confession was not coerced. "There is nopressure on me. I am making the statement of my own will," hesaid.

As part of the confession, he told how he became involved withLashkar-e-Taiba. He said he became unhappy with his low wages as ashop assistant in the town of Jhelum in Pakistan, and left forRawalpindi with the intention of becoming a professional robber.

While attending a festival in Rawalpindi, he and a frienddecided to seek out the mujahedeen, who they thought could helptrain them as bandits. They went to a local bazaar and weredirected to the local Lashkar office, he said.

Before being sent to India, Kasab said he lived in a house inPakistan's largest city Karachi for a month-and-a-half with 10other young men. All of them were transferred to another home andtaken to sea where they met four handlers.

One of them was an Indian, who taught the attackers Hindi, hesaid.

Kasab confessed after his capture, but later withdrew thatstatement, saying it had been made under duress.

Last week, the Pakistan government gave a dossier to Indiaproviding new evidence of Lashkar-e-Taiba's role in the attack, andnaming Kasab as a participant.

Asked by judge M.L. Tahiliyani why he confessed now, Kasab saidit was because the Pakistani government recently acknowledged hewas a Pakistani citizen, dealing a blow to his defense.

"If Pakistan has accepted me as its citizen, then end this caseand punish me for my crime," he said. "My request is that we endthe trial and I be sentenced."

Tahiliyani said no immediate judgment would be issued and thetrial will resume Tuesday.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit declined tocomment on Kasab's court admission, but events took those at thehearing by surprise.

"Everybody in the court was shocked the moment he said heaccepts his crime. It was unexpected," public prosecutor UjjwalNikam said. "We have finally extracted the truth."

Kasab said he killed fewer people than the prosecution alleges.Nikam said the confession could be a ploy to try for a lightersentence.

An Indian court issued arrest warrants in June for 22 Pakistaninationals accused of masterminding the attacks, including HafizMohammed Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and two otherleaders of the group named by Kasab as being involved.

Copyright 2015 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.